Blog Series Part 3: Securing your Smartphone

For the next 4 weeks, we’re doing a 4 part blog series to dig into the practical steps anybody can take to promote Cyber Security.

Smartphones are essentially mini computers that allow the user to access a vast amount of information on the move. Securing your Smartphone is critical to ensure that the information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Part 3: Securing your Smartphone

Follow the steps below to make sure you are protected:

Always secure your smartphone with a password

Be sure that your device locks itself automatically

Only download apps from approved sources

Check your apps’ permissions

Don’t miss operating system updates

Be wary of any links you receive via email or text message

Enable tracking settings i.e. Find My Phone

Turn off Bluetooth and NFC (near field communication) when not in use

Use public Wi-Fi safely i.e. do banking or shopping at home

Wipe your old gadget before donating, selling or recycling

How to stop advertisers and more from tracking you

iPhone users – go into Settings > Privacy > scroll down to Advertising > slide the ‘Limit ad Tracking’ to show green. This will stop ad companies from tracking what you do with your phone and serving targeted ads.

‘Reset Advertising Identifier’ will zero out the anonymized identifier linked to your personal data on Apple’s servers, i.e. you will appear to be a new user making it more difficult for advertisers to build up a browsing profile.